Which of the two you choose to unlock first will depend on the available resources around your first city. Animal Husbandry and Pottery are good early research options as they allow you to harvest both plants and animals for food and neither take too many turns to research.Īdditionally, they unlock the ability to build the granary and pastures - both essential for large scale food production. Your civilisation needs food to stay healthy and encourage growth, so making the provision of it the focus of your early research and building efforts make sense. If you are going for a Domination Victory, they allow you to spread your ruling territory and also give your Capital an extra layer of defense during times of war. If you keep your cities close together and not too spread out, you can almost have a string of cities that feel like a single, large city. The reason for this is handling multiple cities is not very difficult. You might feel like you can rule the world with just one mega-city, right? However, it is advised to build at least two more cities besides the Capital that you start out with. If you find yourself in a bind, this can be a good way to discourage enemies from stepping over your border. This helps you target which are most important to your victory condition. Or, if you are looking for a peaceful relationship, you can build trade routes, send emissaries, and foster a relationship.Įvery envoy you send contributes to city-state specific bonuses.
You can be the neighborhood bully and take them by force.
Early on, the first non-barbarians you are likely to encounter are AI-driven city-states. You start each game with a warrior unit, which you should use to uncover the map while you wait for your first scout to be trained.